crystalclods | Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016


TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to the Cosmographia Test Drive Meme! This is a place for you to test out any characters you've been considering for the game or just to splash around in the waters and see what's right for you. Give our infopages a glance over and use the prompts below as a jumping off point! Threads from prompt A and B can be made canon for the game so long as both parties agree to it! Prompts C and D, unfortunately, cannot, as they take their cues from events and Excursions already run in Cosmographia. In short - pick a character, write up a starter and have a blast!
PROMPT A - ARRIVAL
You don't remember getting in this hole but you definitely remember falling out of it. You go tumbling out into the heart of a cavernous temple. Sparkling Gems suspended in bubbles float lazily about the ceiling, just a little out of reach. There's a greenish glow cast over the room by the huge crystal looming before you in the center. It's... curiously heart shaped, now you think to take a closer look at it. If you're curious enough to touch it, you'll get some basic answers about your situation... but then again, there's no guarantee you're just going to walk up to a giant weird thing in the middle of a giant weird room and touch it, right? Why not take a look around and see for yourself what kind of place this is? Perhaps you'll run into someone in the same predicament as you, or perhaps you'll run into someone who can help explain why there's a weird rock now affixed to your body?
PROMPT B - THE FARMER'S MARKET
It's Thursday in Waverly Bay, and that can mean only one thing: the weekly Farmer's Market is here again! The town plaza is all abuzz with activity today. Stalls not only from farmers on the outskirts of town but from crafty residents with interesting homemade items to sell, and businesses looking to attract the Market's crowd are all here! The weather's a little chilly but it's still an excellent place to spend the day, so long as you've got some money to spend. Are you shopping for a good deal on vegetables for dinner? Or perhaps you're getting a feel for the residents, having recently arrived? Or, perhaps, are you an industrious gem who's looking to set up shop? Either way, you're bound to run into somebody in this bustling, busy place.
PROMPT C - INVESTIGATION
Now that you're starting to get a hold of your powers, you've been sent through the warp pads on some kind of mission to the Gem Observatory. From the sounds of things, there's an ancient relic here somewhere that could serve useful for the Gems in the Temple and someone has to go out and find it. ... the only problem is that you're not exactly sure where you should start looking in this place. And on top of that, it's a complete mess. Junk and debris and books and papers everywhere with no clue where this relic could be. You're going to have to do some serious digging to find this thing. And on top of that, you might find that when you try to go back the warp pad you took here has managed to stop working in between your arrival and now. Maybe something went wrong back in the control room? Or the pad itself needs fixing? You'll have to poke around in the guts of the machine to try and figure this one out.
PROMPT D - COMBAT
Uh-oh! Looks like you've run into a monster! These critters can pop up anywhere around Waverly Bay so it doesn't really matter where you were before or what you were up to. All you know now is that you need to buckle down and beat this thing! *Giant Mothwing* - With broad wings that shed scales on the wind, this corrupted Gem bears a striking resemblance to a large moth or butterfly. The body between its wings is no beauty, though - it usually stays rolled into a wheel-like spiral to protect its flat, pinkish gem, but when it uncurls to attack it looks more like a worm with teeth. Yikes! Loud noises make it lash out in agitation. Even when it's not attacking, it flies around restlessly, shedding sharp, glasslike scales that can leave nasty cuts as they whiz past. It'll be hard to get close to it unless it's lured down out of the sky. *Chameleoid* - The shape of this monster's body is more like a tardigrade than a lizard, but its camouflage ability and long, sticky tongue are worth commemorating. The Chameleoid can flatten and expand its body, and change the color and texture of its outer hide to blend in seamlessly with its surroundings, and it uses this ability to duck in and out of battle. Keep an eye out for suspicious movement when it vanishes from view. The Chameleoid shoots out its 20-foot-long tongue to disarm, trip up, and gross out Gems, but it's not averse to eating any small objects it might grab. The inside of its mouth looks softer than the rest of it, so maybe you can turn that to your advantage...? *Strawberry Spider* - Though its long, spindly legs holding it off the ground make it look like a spider, this monster is actually mostly made up of plant material. Trees and strawberry plants are rooted in the corrupted Gem's featureless, geometric body, forming woody legs and blanketing the monster in foliage and strawberries. Its aroma may be sweet, but the Strawberry Spider is ruthless and very, very perturbed. It stands 15 feet tall and 25 feet wide, and its skittering feet move fast to stomp on attacking Gems. Thinking of cutting off a leg? Try it, and hundreds of strawberry runners will immediately sprout from the stump to ensnare you. The strawberries are hungry, and they've got a "taste for blood"... Damaging the plants living on it won't actually hurt the corrupted Gem, and they grow back fast. This will be a tough monster to defeat. *Wildcard Option* - Make your own! You know by now that you've got some special powers just from being a Gem. Apparently, from what little you've heard, you can shapeshift into things and pull a weapon from your gem, and you have some sort of unique special power. But maybe you don't know what it is yet, or you're still not used to using it? Guess you're going to have to learn on the job. Don't leave your fellow gems hanging if you see them fighting one of these little guys either! You're going to need each other to take 'em down!
PROMPT E - WILDCARD
Not into any of these prompts? Thought of something more fun? Go for it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She took a step back as the walls wobbled. She'd handled the behemoths from home, and in those instances she was surrounded by at least two dozen other adventurers. The fact that one woman could bind such a creature...!

"Sounds like a plan. I'll maintain the distraction!" Immediately after, she assumed the greeting stance, inviting the behemoth to join her in the dance.

"Good because I can't defeat him like this."

Crushing was always an option, but that put the gem at risk of being destroyed once the barriers came in. The behemoth, distracted by her companion's dance, would leave it vulnerable, and able to use her barriers to chop it to pieces.

Still, she drew them back slowly, making sure that it was truly entranced before taking any other actions.

"Eyes up here, big boy!" She inserted two fingers into her mouth and blew a sharp whistle. The beast quieted, turned and bared its teeth. Well, that was bone-chilling but that was also just fine.

Not the usual folks she stood on stage and danced for, but this'll do. Despite her mild fear that this may not work, she still moved as if she'd been practicing this for years, entire body flowing into something that perhaps told stories while inviting all others to join her.

Oh, boy, when she said her legs could be used as weapons she really didn't think of it in this way...!

It was interesting to say the least. There were plenty of unique gem abilities around the bay now, but there were more out there, but she wouldn't expect dance to actively distract a corrupted gem somehow.

Barriers drawing back and up, she shrunk their size down to practically the length and width of wooden boards. She didn't move, silently shifting the five into several positions around the monster, taking aim at its neck, chest, and abdomen. No cutting the gem now...

She brought the barriers slicing down for the beast's body.

She felt the eyes following her, not a claw raised to strike her. She preferred it that way- she was accustomed to a certain brusque 'stick' taking those hits for her- but this was an interesting change up.

The walls shrank as she danced, and they moved like razors to slice and dice the behemoth. But rather than become a horrific mess of gore, it instead burst into a fancy cloud of smoke. She heard the clatter of something against the pavement, and curiously stopped her dance to see if this was what they meant by 'poofing'... it'd gone poof, right?

Just as precisely executed as she expected. With a wave of her hand, she called back the barriers and walked forward through the smoke. There was the gem, and it fit snugly into the violet bubble Naomi soon wrapped around it.

"Just one more to go with the rest..."

The rest...? So she was speaking of those floating bubbles. So many of them, so many lost lives. She felt a small sinking feeling in her stomach, fighting not to relive her shoes nearly slipping on half-frozen blood on frosty stone.

"The Heart mentioned the search for a cure... have we made any sort of headway?"

"Unfortunately, we haven't. We're still unfurling the basic mysteries in this world."

Tapping the top of the bubble, it disappeared from her hand. She would check later to make sure it teleported to the Heart Room properly.

"Then these creatures remain in some sort of sleep. What about us? What if one of us falls to the same ailment?"

This wasn't something she wished to know the answer to, but it was too important to plug one's ears about: "...Has it occurred?"

"... The Heart showed me one instance. However, it was reversed before it could get to the point the gem you saw reached."

So, they could be saved. These other gems would take more effort.

She whispered 'seven hells' under her breath and couldn't help looking at where the gem had met its demise.

Without knowing how the corruption happened, how could they even begin to stop it before something made it spread? Did emotion do it? Hatred? Desperation? Not knowing was far too dangerous.

She'd watched an entire city-state nearly crumble thanks to misinformation.

"Try not to dwell into it too much right now. You have other things to learn - your own gem, for example, and using its powers to protect yourself."

One step at a time. Otherwise, this woman would only be throwing herself into danger.

She nodded, but her color deepened briefly. It was hard to keep a solid demeanor, as was expected of her role back home, when she was very much as mortal as everyone else was. The Warrior of Light could die, no matter what the people thought.

Madhuri felt her skin briefly crawl, and the spines along her tail rolled.

"You're right, I'm sorry. A-ahem!" She then curtsied.

"I am Madhuri. Thanks for saving my scales."

Was she feeling alright? Seemed like she fell oddly silent after their fight. Possible she was still wrapping her head around everything occurring here.

"You're welcome." Madhuri huh? She would keep that in mind. Not really bowing or curtsying herself, the doctor just nodded her head slightly. "I'm Naomi. My powers mainly focus on support, but when I need to, they can be used for other purposes."

Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016

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